Ed Miliband: in victory he asked 'what have I done to David?'

It was not quite the Sunday morning that David Miliband had been expecting.
Just 24 hours earlier he had been preparing to share with BBC viewers his
vision for the party he had dreamt of leading since he was a child.

Ed Miliband (left) is congratulated by his brother David, with not a trace of 'psycho-drama'Photo: PHOTOSHOT

Instead, it was his younger brother Ed who joined Andrew Marr on the top floor of Manchester’s Hilton Hotel, with its panoramic views of the cityscape, for the set-piece first interview of the new Labour era.

David was “enjoying” his first lie-in for years, not in the Leader’s Suite of the Midland, the main conference hotel, but in a smaller room that his aides had scrambled to book him when it became shockingly clear that he would need alternative accommodation.

Beside him, as he mulled over his future, his American wife, Louise, seethed at what she saw as Ed’s betrayal of his sibling.

It had all seemed so different on the train to Manchester the day before. Team David had been rattled during the two-hour journey when a succession of bookmakers issued odds predicting, for the first time, victory for the younger brother.

After a quick discussion, one of the group was chosen to warn David to prepare himself for the worst. Would it not be wise, the aide suggested, for him to think about how he would handle a devastating defeat? The older Miliband would have none of it. “I’m going to win, I’m confident of that; I will be leader,” he said. “And if I do lose, I will just have to deal with it. But I’m not going to.”

Over in Team Ed, there was a mood of quiet optimism, though his young supporters were too superstitious to trust what they were hearing from the bookies.

After delivering a speech to the Labour Students group on Friday afternoon, the junior Miliband had an early night, before meeting up with his team at 8am on Saturday to work on an acceptance speech.

Justine Thornton, his girlfriend and the mother of his baby son, arrived in the afternoon and the group had a late lunch of “butties and crisps”. By then, delegates had begun arriving in the hall to learn the identity of their new leader. Under arrangements described as “quite weird” by one participant, the five candidates were kept in separate rooms with only one other person for company, before being brought together to be told the results by Ray Collins, Labour’s general secretary.

Tension was high as they walked into the room at 4pm.

Mr Collins made a short speech thanking all five for their efforts, before turning to Ed Miliband to say: “Congratulations.”

According to one of those in the room, no one spoke for several seconds. Then David stepped forward to embrace his stunned brother.

“David was very, very dignified. He handled it incredibly well. There was no stomping of feet or banging of fists. He genuinely looked happy for his brother.”

As Ed and his campaign manager, the Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, were ushered from the room to put the finishing touches to his speech, the four losing candidates were kept in purdah. David is said to have eased what could have been an uncomfortable 45 minutes by cracking a series of jokes – his erstwhile rivals were impressed.

Ed, however, was said to have been stricken. So focused had he been on the long campaign that he had lost sight of the impact victory would have on his brother. “David, what have I done to David?” he asked Mr Khan. Mr Khan had to remind him that he had won and should, by rights, be celebrating.

Back in the hall, delegates had listened to speeches by Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman, and were growing impatient. Having been made to surrender their mobile phones, the teams resorted to ingenious ruses to let followers know the outcome.

Mr Khan’s choice of a particular-coloured lanyard for his conference pass let his gang know who had triumphed, while Ed Balls’s campaign manager, Jim Knight, buttoned his jacket in a certain way. It seemed, however, that no one had told Louise Shackleton, David Miliband’s violinist wife, who could not hide her disgust when the result was finally announced in public minutes later.

Others were delighted. Gripping Ed Miliband by the arms in a Mafia-style clinch as he came offstage, Paul Kenny, the leader of the GMB union, was rewarded with a whisper in his ear: “Thank you”.

It was a union official behind-the-scenes that can be identified as the crucial fixer, however.

His name is synonymous with decades of Labour battles. Step forward Charlie Whelan, the political director of Unite and a former adviser to Gordon Brown.

Mr Whelan was instrumental in persuading several MPs, who were dyed-in-the-wool backers of Ed Balls, to give their second preferences to Ed Miliband. Among these were Tom Watson, Michael Dugher – both close Brown associates – John Healey, Khalid Mahmood, Iain Wright and Steve McCabe.

After sitting through Ed’s poorly received speech, David decided he would not hide away and he and his wife headed to the lobby of the Midland, a hang-out for delegates, politicians and journalists. “Let’s go in. We need a drink,” he said.

When the first wave of applause hit, most presumed that the new leader had arrived.

Instead, when David Miliband emerged, the clapping turned to cheering as the man many had voted for walked among them. A politician who has been often accused of lacking social skills, Mr Miliband appeared in defeat to have finally discovered a common touch, working the room with an expression of relief and gratitude.

Outside, his brother sped past the hotel, rushing between receptions and meetings as part of his new responsibilities as leader. There was no champagne.

That night, as David crashed into bed, looking forward to his first lazy morning since entering the Cabinet five years ago, there was a tap at the door of Ed’s suite.

It was time for the new leader to sit down with his policy chief to plan for that appearance on the Andrew Marr sofa.